Porous silver-coated pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel nanocapsules

• William W. Bryan,
• Riddhiman Medhi,
• Maria D. Marquez,
• Supparesk Rittikulsittichai,
• Michael Tran and
• T. Randall Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1973–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.194

• ), allowing for reversible contraction and swelling of the hydrogel via photothermal heating of the surrounding silver shell. Given that NIR light can pass through tissue, and the silver shell is porous, this system can serve as a platform for the smart delivery of payloads stored within the hydrogel core

• LCST of the hydrogel copolymers can be tuned from ≈30–60 °C [60][61]. As such, hydrogel copolymers are capable of undergoing completely reversible swelling–collapsing volume transitions in response to changes in temperature [62][63][64]. Appropriate chemical modifications to the thermo-responsive

• nanoparticle distribution, we can conclude that there is a soft hydrogel polymer core onto which the gold seeds are attached. Furthermore, these results are consistent with SEM measurements. Thermo-responsive behavior of the pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel cores. The swelling and collapsing behavior of hydrogels is

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• vapour annealing [201]. Complicated morphology shifts such as swelling, coalescing of aggregates, bicontinuous pattern formation, one-dimensional droplet formation, and the periodic evolution of the droplets were observed. Mori et al. reported the formation of two-dimensional arrays of disk-shaped nano

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• irradiation (Table 1). Among the 2D clay-based solids (layered silicates), montmorillonite and other smectites used for assembly with diverse NPs exhibit excellent adsorption, rheological, ion-exchange, and swelling properties as well as a large relative surface area for incorporating the NPs. Kaolinite clay

On the transformation of “zincone”-like into porous ZnO thin films from sub-saturated plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition

• Alberto Perrotta,
• Julian Pilz,
• Stefan Pachmajer,
• Antonella Milella and
• Anna Maria Coclite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 746–759, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.74

• the thickness of the layer and the adsorbate multilayer, respectively, Vmol is the molecular volume of the adsorptive, and αads is the polarizability of the adsorptive molecule. If swelling occurs, dt is ignored in the equation and only the layer thickness is taken into account, as reported in [49

• ]. Therefore, the adsorptive volume contains both information about pore filling and the formation of multilayers or swelling. The porosity (P) in the layers is calculated from the isotherm when all the pores accessible to the probe molecules have been filled. Using the Lorentz–Lorenz equation, P can be

• micropores and mesopores, respectively [49][50]. At 90% relative humidity a rapid increase of the water uptake was witnessed. This was attributed to swelling of the layers, accounting for the desorption branch crossing the adsorption branch while decreasing the relative humidity. When water leaves the

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• by further functionalization of the hydroxy functionality, thus making PS-b-PEO membranes attractive for several applications. Other methods require the introduction of swelling agents (i.e., agents for increasing the microdomain dimensions) [92] as well as additives able to affect the microdomain

Fabrication of photothermally active poly(vinyl alcohol) films with gold nanostars for antibacterial applications

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Maria Moros,
• Claudia Tortiglione,
• Serena Bertoldi,
• Nicola Contessi,
• Silvia Faré,
• Angelo Taglietti,
• Agnese D’Agostino,
• Piersandro Pallavicini,
• Maddalena Collini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2040–2048, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.193

• are known to be sensitive to water [20][27]. In order to test the potential application of the fabricated films in biological environments, a crucial prerequisite is the study of the swelling behavior and the water uptake capability [11]. With this aim, the fabricated films were immersed for 24 h in

• water at room temperature. At this time point, the water content of swollen films was 93 ± 0.6% with a corresponding degree of swelling of 13.3 ± 0.8%.The corresponding parameters for the PVA film without GNSs were 92.6 ± 0.6% and 13.1 ± 0.8%, respectively. This negligible difference can be explained by

• the observed spots correspond to the same aggregation number, unless these are single nanoparticles. Swelling behavior As described previously [20], in order to estimate the swelling degree of the films, three specimens of each film (2 × 2 cm) weighed before (W0) were separately soaked in 7 mL of

Biomimetic and biodegradable cellulose acetate scaffolds loaded with dexamethasone for bone implants

• Aikaterini-Rafailia Tsiapla,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Veroniki Bakola,
• Foteini Pappa,
• Panagiota Gkertsiou,
• Eleni Pavlidou and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1986–1994, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.189

• degradation of CA fibers were studied via SEM after 1, 30 and 150 days (Figure 3). 20 fibers were randomly selected from the images at the highest magnification (3000×) and their diameter was determined by using the ImageJ software. A swelling of fibers was observed after day 30, as confirmed by the increase

• presented in Figure 6. In addition, 20 fibers were randomly selected from the images at the highest magnification (3000×) and their diameter was determined by using the ImageJ software. Again, from day 1 to day 30 the average fiber diameter increased due to fiber swelling, from 1756 to 4078 nm. After 150

Preparation of micro/nanopatterned gelatins crosslinked with genipin for biocompatible dental implants

• Reika Makita,
• Tsukasa Akasaka,
• Seiichi Tamagawa,
• Yasuhiro Yoshida,
• Saori Miyata,
• Hirofumi Miyaji and
• Tsutomu Sugaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1735–1754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.165

• ]. Although the collagen/gelatin surface patterns that can be formed are in the micro- to nanoscale range, it is more difficult to fabricate surface patterns with smaller elements because of the solubility, swelling properties, and weakness of collagen/gelatin compared to engineered polymers. The type of

• , 333 to 650 nm wide, have been successfully fabricated using crosslinking with carbodiimide [46]. Gelatin pillars with a diameter of 250 nm to 1 µm have also been patterned using polymerization with GelMA. The swelling ratio of these pillars could be successfully controlled by changing the GelMA

• estimate bone-related functions of osteoblasts in the future. Swelling and degradation of the different gelatin patterns examined here in the presence of cell culture medium were largely influenced by the concentration of genipin. In general, gelatin patterns with a lower degree of crosslinking had a

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

• the body. Inflammation initiates the innate immune response, often seen as a swelling redness as an increase in cells occurs at the site of the wound. In proliferation, fibroblasts (counterparts to the osteoblasts in hard tissue) secrete extracellular matrix, fibrinogen, and collagen to remodel tissue

Liquid-crystalline nanoarchitectures for tissue engineering

• Baeckkyoung Sung and
• Min-Ho Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 205–215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.22

• been reported [106]. Lamellar phase PLA-b-PEG-b-PLA hydrogels can be made to exhibit better biodegradability and higher swelling behavior than isotropic gels for medical purposes [107]. Thermotropic copolyester materials in nematic order can be also synthesized to be used as a bioresorbable and tissue

Humidity-dependent wound sealing in succulent leaves of Delosperma cooperi – An adaptation to seasonal drought stress

• Olga Speck,
• Mark Schlechtendahl,
• Florian Borm,
• Tim Kampowski and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 175–186, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.20

• cooperi. After a transversal incision, the entire leaf bends until the wound is closed. Our results indicate that the underlying sealing principle is a combination of hydraulic shrinking and swelling as the main driving forces and growth-induced mechanical pre-stresses in the tissues. Hydraulic effects

• circumferential direction. This advanced model exclusively takes into account mechanically driven movements and ignores swelling and shrinking effects due to internal water displacement or dehydration [7]. In order to obtain a more detailed and more comprehensive understanding of the underlying functional

Interface conditions of roughness-induced superoleophilic and superoleophobic surfaces immersed in hexadecane and ethylene glycol

• Yifan Li,
• Yunlu Pan and
• Xuezeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2504–2514, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.250

• goniometer collects six values for each droplet, from which the average CA is obtained. For CAH measurements, a droplet of 5 μL of each liquid was deposited on the sample and was captured by the goniometer. Then, by using a syringe a volume of 1 μL was added until swelling deformation. The swelling droplet

Preparation and characterization of polycarbonate/multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites

• Claudio Larosa,
• Niranjan Patra,
• Marco Salerno,
• Lara Mikac,
• Remo Merijs Meri and
• Mile Ivanda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2026–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.203

• of 30 min with on/off cycles (4 s and 2 s, respectively) in order to prevent heating which could occur during acoustic cavitation. The initial swelling of MWCNT agglomerates by solvent infiltration and interaction was considered as a crucial precondition to obtain a good dispersion of MWCNTs inside

BTEX detection with composites of ethylenevinyl acetate and nanostructured carbon

• Santa Stepina,
• Astrida Berzina,
• Gita Sakale and
• Maris Knite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 982–988, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.100

• enough to diffuse into the polymer matrix inducing a swelling of the composite and an increase of the distance between CB nanoparticle aggregates. In case of benzene more molecules diffuse into the polymer matrix, but they increase the distance between the CB nanoparticles aggregates to a lower degree

• than toluene and as mentioned previously ethylbenzene molecules induce a swelling of the polymer matrix more effectively than VOCs with smaller molecule size such as toluene. Ethylbenzene and toluene are pure compounds, but the contents of gasoline may vary based on its production including many highly

Synthesis of coaxial nanotubes of polyaniline and poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) by oxidative/initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Alper Balkan,
• Efe Armagan and
• Gozde Ozaydin Ince

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 872–882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.89

• PANI nanotubes, the resistance changed parabolically with relative humidity because of competing effects of doping and swelling of the PANI polymer under humid conditions. Introducing a hydrogel inner layer increased the overall resistance, and enhanced swelling, which caused the resistance to

• protons and negative hydroxyl ions upon entering the polymer chain. The protons dope the polymer further until the undoped parts of the emeraldine salt is mostly doped with the H+ ions, after which swelling starts dominating. Swelling of the polymer due to excess water in the ambient results in higher

• resistance on the humidity as observed in the thin films was also observed in the nanotube samples (Figure 9). This type of parabolic dependence of resistance on the humidity was previously reported for PANI nanotubes [53]. The competition between the doping and swelling effects determines at which RH% value

Colorimetric gas detection by the varying thickness of a thin film of ultrasmall PTSA-coated TiO₂ nanoparticles on a Si substrate

• Urmas Joost,
• Andris Šutka,
• Meeri Visnapuu,
• Aile Tamm,
• Meeri Lembinen,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Kathriin Utt,
• Krisjanis Smits,
• Ergo Nõmmiste and
• Vambola Kisand

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 229–236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.25

• thickness of the NP-based film. Indeed, VOC absorption causes significant swelling of the film. Thus, the optical path length is increased, interference wavelengths are shifted and the refractive index of the film is decreased. This causes a change of color of the sensor element visible by the naked eye

• compounds (VOCs) into the PTSA binding agent between the NPs and the subsequent swelling of the film. Thus, the film thickness and the optical path length of the light in the film are changed. This varies the interference wavelengths of light reflected by the substrate and the thin film. The change of

• refractive index of the individual layers [1][17][18]. Our objective was to demonstrate a simpler and more cost-effective system utilizing the gas absorption in films and the subsequent swelling of the films, which changes the interference maxima and minima of light reflected from the surface of the film and

The cleaner, the greener? Product sustainability assessment of the biomimetic façade paint Lotusan^® in comparison to the conventional façade paint Jumbosil^®

• Florian Antony,
• Rainer Grießhammer,
• Thomas Speck and
• Olga Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2100–2115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.200

• . Furthermore, it also provides a high degree of natural protection against algae and fungal attack. Lotusan® is extremely hydrophobic and shows no swelling. Contaminations like airborne dirt particles are washed away with the next rainfall. Jumbosil® (option 2): Jumbosil® is a filled, silicone-annealed

Polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) copolymers as templates for stacked, spherical large-mesopore silica coatings: dependence of silica pore size on the PS/PEO ratio

• Roberto Nisticò,
• Giuliana Magnacca,
• Sushilkumar A. Jadhav and
• Dominique Scalarone

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1454–1460, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.137

• different swelling effect of the PS core that depends on the micelle morphology. In the investigated formulations, PS blocks form the internal core of the templating micelles and PEO blocks form the external corona. For low PS/PEO ratios, the PS-made micellar core occupies a smaller volume and is surrounded

• core, thus reducing the swelling and size of the micelle core. Vice versa, if the PEO block is shorter than the PS one, by increasing the PS/PEO ratio, the PEO corona becomes less dense, facilitating the diffusion of benzene through it. As a consequence, the PS-made micellar core increases up to a

• constant value. This happens when a swelling equilibrium with the apolar solvent inside/outside the templating micelles is achieved. Even though further studies are necessary to better clarify this point, the interesting trends reported here confirm the importance of the template choice in order to obtain

On the pathway of cellular uptake: new insight into the interaction between the cell membrane and very small nanoparticles

• Claudia Messerschmidt,
• Daniel Hofmann,
• Anja Kroeger,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder and
• Ingo Lieberwirth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1296–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.121

• hints at necrotic cell death involving membrane disintegration, cell swelling (and even bursting, Supporting Information File 1, Figure S12), vacuolisation and Ca2+-containing agglomerates inside mitochondria. In EM and cLSM experiments we could not observe any apoptotic bodies. After longer incubation

• active, protein dependent endocytic pathway necessary. This assumption is further corroborated by the observation, that this process still works when all energy-dependent endocytosis mechanisms were switched off by means of cooling (Figure 11A and B). Toxicity Features like cell swelling, blebbing and

Functional diversity of resilin in Arthropoda

• Jan Michels,
• Esther Appel and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1241–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.115

• transparent or sometimes, when the sclerotisation is very pronounced, not transparent at all. When immersed in aqueous media and in many anhydrous hydrophilic liquids, resilin exhibits an isotropic swelling, which is reversible and depends on the pH. (It is least pronounced at pH values of about 4.) In its

Experimental and simulation-based investigation of He, Ne and Ar irradiation of polymers for ion microscopy

• Lukasz Rzeznik,
• Yves Fleming,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1113–1128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.104

• , Ne and Ar in polymers are sufficiently high to prevent any accumulation of rare gas atoms in the polymers which could lead to some swelling and bubble formation. Roughness formation was also not observed. Preferential sputtering is more of a problem, with enrichment of carbon up to surface

• allows molecular fragments to desorb. The degradation of organic molecules and their fragmentation are not the only important parameters for imaging in SIMS using light primary ions. For inorganic matter, the swelling of samples under ion bombardment has been observed for He+ and Ne+ bombardment of Si

• shows that roughness formation does not seem to be a major issue for polymers under rare gas irradiation, opposite to what is observed for inorganic materials where the implantation of the rare gas species leads to irradiation-induced roughness formation, swelling and bubble formation. To understand how

Direct formation of gold nanorods on surfaces using polymer-immobilised gold seeds

• Majid K. Abyaneh,
• Pietro Parisse and
• Loredana Casalis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 809–816, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.72

• higher Mw, shown in Figure 1b, exhibits a different morphology with micro-roughening and larger swelling domains than P1, caused by UV exposure. It is known that Mw can influence the PMMA surface morphology after UV irradiation [36]. All these chemical and physical changes in the polymer surface induced

Cantilever bending based on humidity-actuated mesoporous silica/silicon bilayers

• Christian Ganser,
• Gerhard Fritz-Popovski,
• Roland Morak,
• Parvin Sharifi,
• Benedetta Marmiroli,
• Barbara Sartori,
• Heinz Amenitsch,
• Thomas Griesser,
• Christian Teichert and
• Oskar Paris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 637–644, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.56

• structures that swell anisotropically and differently between the two layers upon the change of relative humidity (RH) [8]. This bilayer principle has been used to build simple artificial actuators based on the swelling of paper–plastic bilayers [9], and also more general routes have been proposed to create

• directional movement by using swelling of polymers in combination with controllable anisotropy [10]. However, to our knowledge such concepts have not been used so far to create ceramic or metallic bilayer structures, which would have the advantage of their applicability at higher temperatures and in harsh

Hydration of magnesia cubes: a helium ion microscopy study

• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Johannes Schneider,
• Gilles R. Bourret and
• Oliver Diwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 302–309, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.28

• morphologically well-defined MgO particle systems was investigated. We observed unexpected transformations ranging from swelling of the metal oxide nanostructure core to dissolution–recrystallization steps that give rise to the formation of hydroxides with entirely different microstructures [21]. Experimental All

• that were not in contact with the substrate did not show any swelling after the four day period (see arrows in Figure 4), and second, no morphological changes were observed when the cubes were pressed into the vacuum-annealed indium foil (Figure S3, Supporting Information File 1) and imaged with

3D solid supported inter-polyelectrolyte complexes obtained by the alternate deposition of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)

• Eduardo Guzmán,
• Armando Maestro,
• Sara Llamas,
• Jesús Álvarez-Rodríguez,
• Francisco Ortega,
• Ángel Maroto-Valiente and
• Ramón G. Rubio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 197–208, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.18

• modify the multilayer growth, but it contributes to the total adsorbed mass of the film. The water associated with the polyelectrolyte films leads to their swelling and plastification. The use of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has allowed for deeper insights on the internal structure and composition of

• the polyelectrolyte multilayers. Keywords: charge compensation; hydration; polyelectrolyte multilayers; stratification; swelling; Introduction The new requirements of science and technology have created an increasing interest for the fabrication of materials with reduced dimensionality for their

• interactions occurring in the system and the polymer conformation, without effects due to the hydration/swelling phenomena associated with the uptake/release of water. Even though the N dependence of the adsorbed mass is not changed by the drying process, other aspects are strongly modified by the film drying